Sarah's Story Chapter 021 - Sparring with Staves

Beth was pissed at him, but frankly, if he wasn’t already in so deep, he’d be pissed at her for not getting an accurate combat history prior to the assessment.

But this was the first time their Guild branch had ever assessed a Brawler. Sure, the big book had had a litany of warnings about the Class, but nothing that indicated a standard combat assessment was unsuitable. Hell, Beth had acted with extraordinary caution in calling him in, as he was the strongest assessor the capital had.

The only way to act with more caution would have been to have multiple assessors, and that had been warned against. Somehow, apparently, Brawlers were even more dangerous when outnumbered.

What a troublesome Class.

He sighed, and let his shoulders sag for a moment, just a moment, before he locked in.

“Okay, wait there, Sarah. I’m going to get the staves.” He waited until she nodded, then turned and walked to the shed containing all the wooden practice weapons that Beth was standing next to. Of course, staves being what they were, it was hard to say they were ‘practice’ weapons in the same way a wooden sword or knife was.

Beth was livid.

“I will be filing a complaint to the deputy Guildmaster about this!” she hissed at him as he opened the door.

He pulled out two staves before he turned to face her with a grim expression on his face.

“Beth.” He paused, then continued. “I’ve already decided to recommend Sarah for a Rank C combat evaluation.” He watched Beth blink in confusion. “I’m already tempted to even recommend Rank B, but I know that’s beyond the scope of an assessment. And that’s before the armed spar.”

He looked down at the wooden staves in his hands, and then back at Beth. “Be prepared to call a stop at even the slightest sign that the spar is becoming unsafe for either of us. Remember, Sarah is freshly classed. She’s already shown remarkable control of herself in hand to hand sparring, but…”

He left the rest unsaid.

Beth frowned. “Whatever. I’m still filing a complaint!”

“Do as you like, but do note that I asked those questions to confirm the safety of the combat assessment participants.”

Beth blinked again. “Safety of the participants?” But Mr. Tenns had already turned and walked back to the center of the yard, where Sarah was waiting.

Like a soldier going off to war.

He lightly tossed one of the staves to Sarah, who caught it handily and twirled it around before tossing it up and down a few times.

Of course she had experience with staves.

For the first time, Mr. Tenns had the slightest complaint about Sarah’s combat sense.

She didn’t have the most accurate grasp on her own capabilities.

More spars, closely supervised by Guild Trainers, would fix that quickly.

He rolled his shoulders, twirled his own staff, and got into a ready position with the staff thrust forward and up, ready to strike or block instantly.

“Ready?” he called.

“Ready!” Sarah responded. She wasn’t in a proper ready stance, instead holding the staff more like a walking stick, standing more upright than before. Mr. Tenns revised his assessment of her staff skills back downward. It was likely that she didn’t have any [Staff Wielding] skills or techniques yet, having just unlocked her class.

“Begin!” he called, prepared for her to approach. He would wait and see what she did first, then respond.

But Sarah bent her knees slightly and cocked her arm back like she was going to throw a javelin. And then, before he could react, her staff was flying at his face.

Brawler Class Skill [Throwing] has reached level 2.

Delayed a fraction of a second by his surprise, Mr. Tenns jerked his head to the side and batted the thrown staff aside with his own staff. At that point, he realized his error.

He had raised his arms to block the staff flying at his face. Jerking his head to the side had thrown him off balance.

Sarah was now inside his guard, lunging upward with every muscle in her body in a palm strike to his chin.

The look in her eyes was terrifying. There was no emotion there. She had simply chosen and executed the optimal strategy to attack her opponent who was superior to her in staff wielding.

She had never intended to fight using staff techniques. Almost anyone, if you put a sword in their hand, would fight with it using sword techniques. Same with a knife, or a spear, or any other weapon.

Sarah had just intended to win.

The strike landed before he could yield, and Mr. Tenns was unconscious before his feet left the ground and he sailed in a shallow parabola arc to the ground, the staff still clutched in his hands.

Beth gaped for a second, before coming to her senses and yelling “Stop!” But Sarah had already stopped, standing over Mr. Tenns’s unconscious body, at first confused, but then worried.

Wait, did this mean she failed the assessment?

Beth ran over and panicked for a few seconds before Mr. Tenns woke up.

Survivalist Class Skill [Fast Recovery] has reached level 15.

It had been a long time since that skill had leveled up.

“Sam! Sam! Are you alright!?” Beth shouted. He took a breath to check the condition of his own body, his neck and jaw were fine. He had been struck with just enough force to knock him out without snapping his neck or even breaking his jaw.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m getting up.” Before he even finished speaking, Sarah had backed up a few steps, and Beth hurriedly followed. He pulled his legs back and kicked, propelling himself directly to his feet. He rubbed his jaw and looked down at the short, young girl who’d put him on the ground in less than a handful of seconds.

She looked worried, like a guilty child almost.

He chuckled. “Well done, Sarah. You passed the assessment with flying colors.”

It did his heart good to see her spirits lift, and his Skills finally quieted down, recognizing the danger had passed.

The combat assessment was over.